The struggle to pray- Illustrations unlimited. P. 422 #26.
One day a boy was watching a holy man praying on the banks of a river in India. When the holy man completed his prayer the boy went over and asked him, “will you teach me to pray?” The holy man studied the boy’s face carefully. Then he gripped the boy’s head in his hands and plunged it forcefully into the water! The boy struggled frantically, trying to free himself in order to breathe. Finally, the holy man released his hold. When the boy was able to get his breath he gasped, “What did you do that for?” The holy man said, “I just gave you your first lesson.” “What do you mean?” asked the astonished boy. “Well,” said the holy man, “when you long to pray as much as you longed to breathe when your head was under the water- only then will I be able to teach you how to pray.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16
28Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. 30And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, 31who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. 33Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. 35And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” 36When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.
I. Fervent Prayer Purges You. (29) 1001 more
Ill. #872 p. 304; Pure rabbit burgers. There was a man driving through a new city and decided to stop at a place that had something different to eat. He saw a place that advertised, “pure rabbit burgers.” So he pulls into the lot, and goes into the restaurant. He inquires about the rabbit burgers. Are they really pure? He asks. “Almost” replies the waiter. “What do you mean?” Asks the man. “We added another animal to even out the meat.” “What animal did you add?” asks the man. The waiter says, “mule.” “How much” asks the man. The waiter said, “Oh, about half.” What do you mean, half,” asks the man. “Well, we add 1 rabbit and 1 mule!”
That is not the purity I am talking about! God calls us to be Holy for He is Holy!
Notice that Jesus’ face was affected. It even affected His clothing. God was working in Christ from the inside out! Folks, this can and will happen to us if we would approach the throne of God as Jesus exemplifies. Purging prayer will affect our faces, we should smile more! Purging prayer should affect our clothes. Maybe not in the since that you are thinking. When we are praying, God will cleanse even our clothes better than Clorox. Often though we wear things because of pride. We want to look a certain way. Or because of rebellion, we don’t care how we look, or we want to tick some one off (parents).
God wants to change you from the inside out! He wants to work a work in you that completely transforms that way you think, believe, and even appear. This is how it can happen. God shows you something that He is going to do. Obstacles get in the way, even bad things occur, but you still have that smile on your face, and peace in your heart. Why? Because God has spoken to you. And everyone knows that what God says happens. Therefore, despite your circumstances you still have joy! Your face has been changed. Just like Moses. After spending intimate time with God, He changes us!
Fervent prayer opens the door to God’s cleansing. When we are fervently praying, if we haven’t been cleansed from ….., you fill in the blank, then have we truly prayed?
II. Fervent Prayer Prepares You. (30-31)
What would you feel like if Moses and Elijah appeared to you? Can you imagine the encouragement that they brought to Jesus? How aware of the love of God was He? After all, God sent two mighty messengers down with a mighty message. Do you think He was praising God after that? Prayer should always lead to our praise. We too often forget that God has one upped Himself for us. He didn’t send us Moses or Elijah, Peter, or John. It would be nice if we could here from the little boy with the loaves. God did something better. He sent His son so that He could live in you! So in essence, He sent Himself. Jesus ended with praise. That should cause you to praise God. He is preparing you! Turn to Jer. 31:31-34. If you are not praising God before you are through praying, then have you really prayed fervently?
A. Jesus was being prepared. Moses and Elijah were speaking about His departure. They were preparing Him for what He was about to do. Folks, that is what fervent prayer does. It prepares us for our responsibilities in life. But you can’t be prepared if you still have a hidden agenda. That is why we need the purging first. God will remove all of our dross, so that we aren’t influenced by anything but Him.
Let me give you an example. We all have sung, or said that God could have sent 10,000 angels. Do you know what 10,000 angels could have done? NO! We don’t understand the power of one angel sent from God, little on 10,000! Listen folks, if you slap my son’s face, you will have to deal with me, or even worse, momma bear! Do you think God feels any less about His child? Think about it. He placed those protective instincts in me. If they came from Him, wouldn’t He feel the same if not more protective of His child? Yet God chose to allow those things to happen to His son. Why? Because “4Love suffers long and is kind 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never fails. (1 Cor. 13) This is how God is. He is willing to set aside His own personal emotions, so to speak, He is willing to lay aside His personal agenda and continue doing what is best for the world. His will. He is calling us to do the same! Can you lay aside your personal hurts, pains, sufferings, pride, and say God I want to do what is best?
Too many times we come before God in prayer, not laying down those issues, and walk away feeling more empowered to do what we want. We use the guise, “Well, I have prayed about it and God didn’t change my mind. So it must be His will.” Then we have righteous indignation! And we are wrong.
Now let’s get back to Jesus being prepared. Let me ask you something. How many times was Jesus transformed? Once! Why is it that if He was transformed only once, that we expect to have the mountain top experience daily? And if we don’t, we must be doing something wrong. Or God is punishing us. Folks, this kind of thing doesn’t last forever here on earth. And we need to take note of something. What did it do? It gave Him the strength to do what He was called to do! When God provides moments like this, it isn’t just to make us feel good. It has a deeper motive. It is because we need His strength to do His will!
Peter needed preparing. (32)
Peter and the disciples were heavy with sleep. But while Jesus was praying, they became fully awake! And they saw the glory of the Lord! Folks, fervent prayer persists, it doesn’t give up! It requires faith in God. You keep praying for that individual that is asleep. The Lord will wake them up in His time, and they will see His glory!
The boys were about to do something they
shouldn’t. They were about to build an altar and worship Moses and Elijah. I believe that this is one of the most powerful stories that exemplifies the Sovereignty of God! The three amigos were all asleep. Have you noticed the pattern? Every time something major happens, they are asleep. God wakes them while Jesus is in major prayer. They wake up fully, and see His glory. And then they want to worship all three. Isn’t that man? We see the Deity of God, experience His glory, and want to worship Him and something else! Yet God prevents it! He will not allow or tolerate such idolatry. Nothing or no one shall take the glory that deserving is His. And I believe that it is due to one thing. It is due to fervent prayer. Well who was praying at this time? Jesus! And He is still making intercession for us today! Due to fervent prayer, God pointed them into the direction that they were to go. And due to fervent prayer God will point us in the direction we need to go. Which leads me to my last point. (No pun intended)
III. Fervent Prayer Points You. (35-36)
Up or down. P.195 #501 1001 humorous. There was a farmer out in Indiana. A tornado had just come through, so he went out to check on his farm. He saw an army man parachuting down from the sky. He said, “Man, you sure are brave parachuting down in this storm.” “I didn’t come down in the chute,” the soldier said. “I went up in a tent.” Have you ever lost your sense of direction? We do spiritual as well. Just as God spoke to the disciples, God will speak to us. It wouldn’t be a conversation if that weren’t the case. That is what prayer is, conversation with God. God speaks and points them back to Jesus, reminding them that He is the only son. He is the only One to be worshipped. He is the only One we are to listen too. And in verse 36 we see a glimpse of what it will be like in the future. Jesus is the only One standing, and everyone will be worshipping Him! “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Jesus is found alone because He stands alone! He is the One that God is always pointing us to. He is the One direction that God is always pointing us in.
